In many manufacturing and material handling operations, endless belts are utilized by being suspended over and around pulleys, rolls or the like and driven in various ways for performing desired operations. These belts have, for the most part, been constructed of a narrow fabric strip which is spliced or joined at its ends to form a continuous or endless belt. These belts are often subjected to concentrated wear on their outside surfaces or along either a righthand or lefthand edge due to friction or other wear factors concentrated therealong. Also, these belts are often subjected to unusual wear and failure at the splice or joint of the ends of the belt.
The problem of wear at the splice of the ends of the belt to form an endless belt has been combatted by the weaving of endless belts of a spliceless construction. Examples of such spliceless, endless, woven belts are set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,281,723; 2,672,168 and 2,672,169.
While these woven endless belts of spliceless constructions overcame problems of unusual wear and failure at the splice of the endless belts, these belts were still subjected to the surface and edge wear and, necessarily, had to be replaced in the manufacturing, material handling or other operations in which they were utilized at regular intervals.
Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide an improved endless belt construction which has an increased surface and edge wear potential and which eliminates a splice therein and overcomes wear at the splice of the belt.
By this invention, it has been found that the above object may be accomplished by providing an endless belt suitable for being rotated during use in various manufacturing and material handling operations and the like and which is characterized by a construction having an increased surface and edge wear potential, as follows. The belt comprises a woven endless fabric strip of predetermined width and length and defining opposing outside and inside surfaces and lefthand and righthand edges and which is of a (1) spliceless and (2) Mobius strip construction having a 180.degree. turn in the surfaces thereof for providing in effect one spliceless continuous surface and one spliceless continuous edge of twice the predetermined length of the belt during rotation thereof by the inside surface reversing and becoming the outside surface and the lefthand edge reversing and becoming the righthand edge during each complete revolution of the belt.
A "Mobius strip", named after the German astronomer and geometer August Ferdinand Mobius (1790-1868), has fascinated mathematicians and parlor magicians for years. The Mobius strip is generally defined as a surface with only one side and one edge, made by placing a twist of 180.degree. in a long rectangular strip and then securing the ends of the strip together.
This Mobius strip principle has been utilized or proposed for various applications including the formation of an endless belt or the like, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,442,682; 2,479,929; 2,784,834 and 3,302,795. However, these previously proposed, Mobius strip, belts were all of the type which were spliced to make the belt endless and, therefore, retained the undesirable characteristic of having a splice or point of joinder in the endless belt which is subject to surface and edge wear.
A woven endless belt of both a (1) spliceless and (2) Mobius strip construction has not heretofore been proposed to applicant's knowledge.